The public needs to know Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The public needs to know - Assignment Example lt care, pediatric, prenatal, immunization, care for adolescent, screening, and testing, a laboratory will be available and a pharmacy so all this will be available to meet the patients’ medical needs. Provision of services should cover all people in spite of their geographical location. The employees of these clinics should offer services with ultimate respect and dignity to both patients with no insurance. This clinic will be an independent hospital and should not be controlled by any organizational body (Wallace, 2009). A free clinic to serve the uninsured then volunteer nurses and doctors will be needed for a start and maybe part-time medical student to offer services. The community will also come and help raise the clinic any well-wishers can give their support to ensure the opening is successful, and all requirements are in place for effective running of services. Uninsured patients will be required to pay some fee for visits to the office. This fee should be patient friendly in that it will depend on their family size and income. Since the clinic will be taking care of the community needs, and then this is a clear indication that a patient is visiting the clinic willing since it will offer quality services that are affordable. The clinic will partner with other clinics so that in case they cannot provide medication, and then patients can be transferred to another equipped hospital to be treated. The opening of the hospital should ensure a balance between quality service provision and the number of patients (Eckenfels, 2008). The opening of this clinic will benefit a good number of patients in the neighborhood by not just providing the routine hospital services but also individual programs for the patients. Some of the programs include parenting teens with the help of partnering with the community, dealing with adolescents and providing them with advice and also taking care of homeless youths. Programs will be created to prevent subsequent pregnancies

Essay question Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Question - Essay Example Or symbolically, that we may be consumed by our problems and challenges because it is too much for us to handle. The words of Christ here may be stern and rebuking but this gave assurance to the faithful that nothing will happen to them even in the midst of the strongest storm if He is with them. The message of the story is that if we have enough unwavering faith in Jesus Christ, our personal storms or problems will take care of its own. And that we should not worry of drowning just like the disciples did because if we have faith in Jesus, no harm would come to us even if the strongest storm will come upon us. Or in short, we should not be afraid of any challenges that life may confront us if we have in Jesus. 3. In Matthew 8:18-22, Jesus revealed the cost of discipleship when the crowd gathered around him and a teacher of the law manifested his willingness to become His disciple and follow wherever he may go. And Jesus told,   Jesus replied,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Manhas no place to lay his head† (Matthews 8:18-20). Jesus answer was allegory of how demanding the work of a disciple is. It means that they will not have rest for they will live the life of the disciple. Then another disciple ask Jesus to first let him go to bury his father before following him as disciple. Jesus reply here is stern statement and to the modern day reader, this may sound insensitive for Jesus Christ because he will not entertain any sentimentalities from his disciples saying â€Å"Follow me,  and let the dead bury their own dead.† This only manifests the demands to become a disciple of Jesus Christ that one must have an unwavering faith and dedication that things will take care of their own when they follow Jesus. This is supported by the following verses in Matthews when a storm was upon them and the disciples panicked and woke up the sleeping Jesus to save them from

Micro Small and Medium Enterprise Essay Example for Free

Micro Small and Medium Enterprise Essay Some of these hurdles comprise of inefficacy of SMEs to access continued development and success. Lack of Finance: One of the crucial factors that prompts in the success or failure of enterprise is technology. The best use of technology no doubt enables enterprise in reducing cost of production, maintain consistency in quality, improve productivity and finally develop the competitiveness of the enterprise. Lack of technology: One of the crucial factors that prompts in the success or failure of enterprise is technology. The best use of technology no doubt enables enterprise in reducing cost of production, maintain consistency in quality, improve productivity and finally develop the competitiveness of the enterprise. Lack of Knowledge: Â  Lack of knowledge and information about the various schemes announced by the government. Lackof Marketing Assistance: One of the chief problems that they do not have marketing expertise or not in a position to hire someone who can jazz up their sales. Paucity of marketing support and limitation of the resources is a characteristic of all SMEs. In this framework the discussion focuses on SMEs typical traits and how these effect upon marketing characteristics within SMEs. When it comes to marketing of products or services internationally, any small or medium company is always constrained by its scarcity of budgets, which in turn limits its growth. A B2B marketplace is a platform where sellers can list thei businesses free of cost and leverage the power of internet. Not only they solve companies problem of reach to the buyers worldwide, the online marketplace also support their communication needs and help them display an array of products. Lack of right staff: Last but not the least SMEs are largely dependent on their staffs, if you fail in the recruitment process, you fail indeed. SMEs must hire right employees, who give their best and support the enterprise through their performances Lack of planning: Another problem that is mainly faced by SME sector is the proper division of time, which is usually the outcome of improper planning and strategy. Moreover, if you are in debt then you have to be careful from your bankers and suppliers and off course your employees who will be on your nerves on the salary day

Tesco Business Analysis

Tesco Business Analysis Introduction: Tesco Plc is a British based company, and is the largest food retailer in the UK. It is one of the largest British sellers and holds third rank in retail industry after USA based company Wal-Mart and France based company Carrefour. It sells around 4000 food products (Euromonitor, 2010). Tesco started with the business in grocery retailing, but now it also sell stationary, health and beauty, utensils, clothing, home entertainment, electrical goods, kitchen utensils and seasonal goods like barbeques and garden furniture in the summer. Annual profits of Tesco in year 2005 was announced as  £2 billion and in 2006 it announced that it was going to open foreign stores very soon. Tesco operates in 13 countries with 3275 stores of which 2115 operates in UK; its largest geographical market (Euromonitor, 2010). It operates through different store formats which include Extra, Express, metro, hypermarket and superstore. Tesco has its own products ranging from value, normal and finest for diff erent income group of consumers. Tesco was founded by jack Cohen 1919. It gets its name from the combination of the founder of Tesco, Sir Jack Cohen and a partner in a firm of tea suppliers who Cohen worked with, T.E. Stockwell (Marketing (00253650)). One of the biggest investment of Tesco was in the 1980s, when Tesco invested  £145m for a superstore development program and invested  £500m in building 30 new stores (BSC). The company floated on the stock exchange in December 1947 with an initial share price of 25p (LSE). Beyond the food, Tesco also sells non-food products including electrical goods, home entertainment, stationary, clothing, beauty and health, kitchen stuff, soft furnishing and season products as barbecues and garden furniture in the summer. The company has become as one of the UK’s biggest independent petrol retailer (Datamonitor, 2010). Moreover, the group provides financial services (Tesco Personal Finance) which was set in joint-venture with Royal Bank of Scotland and became one of the successful projects of the group. Tesco’s Core Purpose, as stated on their website is â€Å"to create value for customers and to earn their lifetime loyalty†. Competition in Retail Market: The market in which Tesco operates is a highly competitive field, where Tesco holds a disproportionate amount of power. Tesco has three major competitors – Sainsbury, Asda and Morrison. These giants of retail have many chains and a collective mass that can influence the food market as a whole. The figures below shows that Tesco holds over a third of the UK market share, and even double the amount of Asda’s market share which is the second largest supermarket chain. Following is a breakdown of the market share data published by TNS for the 12 weeks to June 15, 2008 (Reuters News, 2008): However, the recent financial crisis put Tesco under the pressure when its customers by seeking reduce its expenses switched to cheaper alternative supermarkets as Lidl, Asda and Aldi. According to the latest TNS data Tesco, Sainsburys and Waitrose are losing share of the UK grocery market. Tesco’s sales increased by 5.5%, Sainsburys sales went up by 5.6% , sales of Waitrose just climbed by 1.6% while such hard discount retailers as Aldi saw its sales jump 22.1% over the 12-week period and Lidl posted sales growth of 9.8% (Just Food, 2008). . To maintain its market share, the company has tackled the problem by releasing 400 low -cost new ranges of food and products on their shelves. Today Tesco has 273028 employees and it is the largest British retailer with profit exceeding  £2bn, including global sales and domestic market share. In 2008, Tesco became the 4th largest retailer in the world. STEEPLE+E Analysis: There are rules and regulations which are set by the government so that there should be no monopolies and healthy competition in the market. Consumer law emphasis on protecting the consumer rights and make sure that the entrepreneurs have the chance to compete in the market. According to the EU law there is assumption that the companies with large market share are dominant, the problem with this is there may be compromise on the quality of the product and costumer may end up paying higher prices for the products. As Tesco has a large market share, it has not been assessed till now but Tesco should bear this in mind. Planning consent is highly regulated in UK therefore Tesco should take care of this regulation as expansion is one of the strategies which Tesco follows. Therefore, before setting up a new store Tesco should check all the planning permissions and look if there are any resistances on law grounds or local people’s opposition. In the recent downturn of economy many r etailers were affected badly but Tesco was fortunate as it was not affected that much like others because it makes product for all, it offers a wide range of products from value to finest so it helped people to switch to value products in recession. Increase in tax or stock market fluctuation or change in currency can also affect Tesco. In the sociological aspect Tesco has focused on launching the products like meal for one and microwavable products to make life easy for the people migrate from the other parts of the world and are young professional. Tesco has made use of the technology fully by launching the site tesco.com which makes the life of people easy by order the products from their home and it also gives Tesco a competitive advantage. Tesco has supported the carbon reduction process and have raised 100 million pounds for sustainable technology fund; Tesco also encourages its customers to help in reducing the carbon emission by using the same plastic bag many times, another challenge for Tesco may the reducing the use of fossil fuel which is used in its transportation. SWOT Analysis: It has strong brand image and market leadership. Tesco is the largest retail group in the UK, which has about 30% of the UK grocery market as of June 2008, at the same time; it has successful business which operates in 14 worldwide markets beyond the UK. The company built up a good reputation enables the group to launch new products and services, and makes easier entering in new markets. One of the best examples was entering into financial services market with Tesco Personal Finance project (Datamonitor, 2010). The group has a stronger market presence in South Korea as compared its main rivals as Wal-Mart and Carrefour. These two Tesco’s competitors sold all of its stores and divest its operation in 2006 in South Korean, due to inability to meet consumer’s demand (Datamonitor, 2010). This success encourages the company on making investments in order to sustain market leadership and generate more profit. As the result, company is spending 958million pounds on expanding and acquisition new stores in South Korea (FT, 2008a). ‘Tesco.com is the largest online grocery shopping service in the world; it is the fourth biggest online retailer in the UK, behind Amazon, Dell and Argos.’ (Datamonitor, 2010). In 2008 Tesco.com sales continue to growth constantly. Sales from Tesco.com grew by 20% in the first half of 2008, reaching 902million pounds (Tesco, 2010). Taking into consideration the online sales are forecasted to increase from 10.9 billion pounds in 2006 to 28 billion pounds in 2011 (Datamonitor, 2010), Tesco can get considerable benefits from strong foothold in online services. Notwithstanding on company’s big plans to extent or open new stores in the UK, it becomes difficult to realize as not all expand projects satisfy local community’s requirements and finally have been frozen in waiting for government’s decision. There are some negative event influences, patent infringement claims, for example, in 2007, â€Å"Franks International filed suit against the company in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marsheall Division alleging that Tesco’s CDS infringes two patents held by Franks† (Datamonitor, 2010). Tesco do not have the small convenience store to service customer who the small areas, while the Sainsbury has the small store in the local small town , it is convenience for customer, they do not want by a lot of things, maybe just some daily consumable. There are lots of opportunities in other international markets for Tesco; the Euro zone retailing sales has shown a growth of 33% as of August 2008 to compare as of August 2007, which comprised 4,732mllion pounds and 3,558million pounds respectively. While sales in Asia increased by 11% at the same period from 2, 862million pounds of as August 2007 to 3,151million pounds of August 2008, despite of a small loss in the first half as a result of establishing operations and supply hubs in China (Tesco, 2010). About 80% of group’s capital is being invested in international growth (FT, 2008b). For instance, investment in markets of rapidly growing economy such as India with planned investment around $114 m to set up the business, in China where Tesco has spent 180million pounds in 2007 to increase its stake in its local partner (FT, 2008b). This provides a good opportunity to cover consumer’s demand of these markets which can add value to the Group’s assets and signif icantly contribute to maintain its strong international performance. Notwithstanding on only 9 month of running business in the US, the Group has obtained sales result ($11 per square per foot per week) which is also encouraging. Successful experience of operation on international markets enables the company’s to embody its plans of further overseas expands. Tesco has opportunities in non-food and services markets also, total UK non-food sales increased to 4.1billion pounds and 1.7billion pounds from international market as of August 2008, which in total led to 7.3% sales grew (Tesco, 2010). However, Tesco has poor results in this market segment, while with skills in sourcing and supply chain management the company has opportunity to improve its position. Tesco Personal Finance made profit 71million pounds, where Tesco’s share was 35.5million pounds, up 34% compared to 2007 (Tesco, 2010). The Company completed the acquisition of 50% of TPF from the Royal Bank of Scotland by the end of 2008 (Tesco, 2010). Threat to Tesco is high competition as the result of financial crisis and consumer’s budget tightness such discount competitor as Alsi and Lidlrs are eaten away Tesco’s sales by offering high quality goods for the lowest price. The group faced risk of losing its customers who switched to the other retails in order to reduce its living costs and had to revise its strategy in order to remain its customers. McKenzie’s 7s Analysis: McKenzie 7 S’ includes shared values, Strategy, Structure, System, Staff, Style, Skill. Accordingly Tesco applied the 7 S’ of McKenzie as well to increase its market share and profits which are described as follows: Shared Value: Shared Value of the company states the objectives of the company and it’s believes. Tesco believes in increasing its sophisticated management techniques from simple manufacturing companies to the value of higher standards and marched northward on their value chain. Strategy: Strategy describes about the methods adopted by the company to achieve its goals. Tesco applied various strategies usually using Balanced Scoreboard (BSC) method. Structure: It depends on the companies infra structure like top to down management. Tesco CEO thinks that they don’t need of one leader, they a whole group of employees from top to down to work on strategies. System: System is based on how to finish a work like how important is the wok and how smartly it has to been done. Tesco used a steering wheel to achieve its pre determined strategies smartly simply used to help the employees in future. Staff: Staff states about the number of staff in the organization. All over the world Tesco recruited more than 400,000 employees. Style: It the style of the organization in which it works to achieve its objectives. Tesco used steering wheel to achieve its objectives. It has 90 degree arcs, in which four main areas are considered which are, financial, customers, operations and employee performance. Skill: It describes the capabilities of the organization or the employees to a particular task. Tesco provides full knowledge to its employees to work effectively and efficiently within the organization. It provides skills to the employees to work according to the standards of Tesco (Kaplan R. and Norton D., 2008). Micro Environment analysis and Marketing Strategy: Position of offering the best value for the most competitive prices contributed to be Tesco number one retail in the UK. Smart Supply Chain Management and Development strategy, constantly research, seeking in order to meet customers’ needs, introducing new innovation, product quality and price, offering huge product range, store facilities and services, working closely with suppliers, developing and motivating its staff, participating in the formulation of national food industry and environment protection makes possible to keep strong competitive position within market even through time. Terry Leahy, CEO of Tesco plc states â€Å"there are many opportunities for business like Tesco as long as you stay close to customer and adapt to the changing circumstance† (ICSC Research Review, 2008). The group provides online services through its subsidiary Tesco.com, broadband internet connection (Tesco Broadband) and telecommunications services (Tesco Mobile and Home Phone). â€Å"Tesco.com is the largest online grocery shopping service in the world; it is the fourth biggest online retailer in the UK, behind Amazon, Dell and Argos. Tesco.com serves 850,000 regular customers in the UK and gets more than 250,000 orders every week† (Datamonitor, 2010). Significant advantages of buying online, such as comparatively low price, large product range and the ability to shop around the clock — enable retailers to draw shoppers’ interest (Gladding, 2005). â€Å"Tesco, the United Kingdoms biggest grocer, has attracted considerable attention because of its ambitious overseas strategy and its successful on-line home delivery service† (Child, 2002). â€Å"Since establishing an MVNO with 02 in 2003, Tesco has built up 1.5m mobile subscribers and 250,000 of these v isits the mobile portal every month† (New Media Age, 2008). Hence, Tesco makes possible to carry into effect purchasing by using mobile phones and brings new life in m-commerce shopping (New Media Age, 2008). According to company’s recent press release information Tesco.com sales up 20.5%, profit up 21.4%, including Tesco Direct (Tesco, 2010). Datamonitor (2010) in its â€Å"Tesco, PLC SWOT Analysis† states that â€Å"With a strong foothold in online services, Tesco is well placed to benefit from growing online spending. A strong online presence enables the group to serve new customer segments, avoid investments in physical infrastructure and earn better margins†. The company has an impressive brand image, which is associated with high quality goods and services, huge range of assortments and at the time the best prices. Credible brand name enables the company to launch more new products and new market lines; to go through new markets much easier and quickly, and become successful in this field as well, as it was its entry into the Personal Finance market (Datamonitor, 2010). Through the diversification process, Tesco has increased the range of its operation by entering to new markets of distribution and service supply, such as petrol distribution, banking and insurance, real estate and communications. Such changes and strategy improvements have further reinforced company’s market power above its main competitors. Since the mid-90s, Tesco has been investing in overseas markets, by looking for new opportunities to expand and opening new ways of generating long term growth of shareholders value. Today the Group operates in 12 markets outside the UK, in Europe, Asia and North America. The half of the retail shops are represented beyond the UK (Tesco.com). As a part of international expansion, now Tesco is planning to open wholesale grocery store in India by investing up to $114 million over two years. â€Å"It complements our entries into China and the United States, giving us access to another important economy in the world† commented this decision the company’s chief executed (World Trade, 2008). At the same time, Tesco announced that it has set up a South China headquarters office in Guangzhou in order to maintain its’ presence in this country, where the company already has 47 stores and has been running the business over three years long (World Trade, 2008). As a part of supporting its global expansion programme, the company plans to centralise all its overseas business after signing a 100million pounds network and voice contract. Through this network upgrade, Nick Folkes, Tesco’s IT director, commented, that the company will be able to standardise key finance, human resources, data warehouse and sales applications across the whole worldwide operations. The Cable Wireless network will connect 1,800 Tesco sites in the UK, stores in more than 14 countries and 440,000 employees worldwide, hence, significantly contribute expenditure reduction from reducing call costs to savings on staff travel expenses. He remarked â€Å"Our aim is to have a common technology platform in tandem with common business processes so that we remain competitive as we continue our expansion abroad† (Kamath, J. 2008). Smart human resource management is also important key of Tesco’s business performance. The company has selected Red Prairie’s workforce management solution to manage its global store staff, which will enable Tesco to improve customer service by aligning customer traffic with employee schedule. â€Å"Ultimately, it will improve our business by increasing store productivity, and supporting revenue growth† said Dave Briggs, programme manager for Tesco (Apparel Magazine, 2008). Tesco has been proved a very good innovator as bachelor’s placement’s in Tesco yet further proved its innovation temperament which has seen in Tesco as they have the ability to mold according to the trend whatever are the market need as it become the first who protect the convenience outlets in UK, it’s one of the biggest innovation of all is the Clubcard Loyalty Program, Another great innovation done by Tesco was in supply chain management in which it partitioned the loaders according to the delivery like 1 chamber of frozen foods, another ambient products in only one truck, another innovation is the collection of data from customers on every purchase to use this information to offer the draw on product range, Voucher mailing to the customers according to the purchasing behavior of the consumer so that it can return to Tesco. Continuous analysis on the data gathered from the market it innovates its products like once Tesco got to know that nappies does not have market share so they researched on it and introduced the club offering baby advice on pregnancy and motherhood. With this around one fourth mother and baby market was captured by the company (Strategic Direction, 2008). Company has that much strength that it wanted to collaborate with the US grocery market where other European companies fear to stand. US market is known as typical market as it produces very luxury products at one end and cheaper products on the other end, but Tesco is the only one who can stand with this giant market as it is UK’s biggest market which ability to attract customers of all social groups. Normally, people in US live near a big supermarket but Tesco bet that it will provide small stores with all needful products which are preferred by the people of US. Tesco look forward to launch Tesco Fresh and Easy Stores in US. These stores will be much spacious to provide all the necessary products under one roof, not like US outlets which does not provide alcohol, pizza’s, snacks etc. Healthy eating is also one of the major fields where Tesco thought to capitalize its money. One of the biggest hurdles is to persuade the US people to behave likewise of the Tesco trend in UK where transportation facility and easy convenience helps people to buy more products especially in the case of perishable goods. Tesco has one more worry in front of it as its credit rating in respect of measuring quality of goods and services has been slumped where rivals were resurgent in this process (Strategic Direction, 2008). So Tesco is proved to be a good innovator which makes it in building strong reputation and brand name in the UK market providing all the necessary products under one roof. Tesco strategies makes it possible to compete it in the market like its brand strategy, price strategy and its thorough analysis of the market like Product life cycle analysis etc. making Tesco a competitive brand. According to the Product Life Cycle when a new product is launched or old product is launched in new market generally there is no competition expected at this stage and a high expenditure is needed in market research, launch cost and market test so the product may incu r financial losses in early stage. The same situation was there when Fresh Easy chain of Tesco incur a loss of $106.8 million. It is clear that there were very low sales of these products so the weakness of the sales raises questions about the expandability of this format, what Tesco is into these days. So Tesco should limit the expandability at such a large scale in new market. Balance Scorecard: In 1998 Tesco’s balanced scorecard was introduced and now it is known as Steering Wheel and it is the main driving tool for the business. It has helped Tesco to achieve a lot and it is followed from the board room to the shop floor. The steering wheel is annually reviewed and it ensures that Tesco is achieving its goal and also it ensures that Tesco meet the demands of organizational strategy. Although customers are not much aware of the balanced scorecard but the staff follows it strictly on the data which is collected weekly. Store level scorecard is given to the manager of the stores in which contains the quarterly corporate scorecard. However a strong link is there between the corporate level scorecard and the corporate level scorecard because of this whole data is collected by various systems and mechanism. Top management monitor the performance and look for the problem areas, after identifying the problems local management are asked to resolve and seek the improvement. Referencing: Apparel Magazine (2008) IN BRIEF, Vol. 50 Issue 2, p16-20, 4p, (On-line), Retrieved on March 2 2010 from EBSCOhost database http://web.ebscohost.com Child, P. N., (2002), Taking Tesco global, McKinsey Quarterly; 2002 Issue 3, p134-144, Retrieved on 26 February 2010 from EBSCOhost database http://web.ebscohost.com Datamonitor (2010) ‘Online Retail in the United Kingdom’ Datamonitor (2010) â€Å"Tesco, PLC SWOT Analysis† Euromonitor (2010) Gladding, N., (2005), Analyst comment, Marketing; 5/25/2005, p39, (On-line). Retrieved on February 26 2010 from EBSCOhost database http://web.ebscohost.com Just-Food (2008), ‘Tesco, Sainsbury’s losing share TNS’, Retrieved on March 4 2010 from http://www.just-food.com/article.aspx?id=104077 Kaplan R. and Norton D. (2008), Tescos Approach to Strategy Communication, retrieved on March 3, 2010 from: http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/kaplan-norton/2008/09/tescos-approach-to-strategy-co.html Marketing (00253650), (2002). Tesco, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1, 2010). Reuters News, (2008), ‘Tesco, Sainsbury market shares down slightly – TNS’, (Online) Retrieved on 2 March 2010. Accessed at: http://in.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idINL2456038620080624 Tescos American dream: Doing it differently (2008) Strategic Direction, 24(2), 11-15. Retrieved on March 5, 2010 from: Business Source Complete database. Tesco Personal Finance, retrieved on 28 February 2010 from: http://www.tescoplc.com/plc/about_us/strategy/services/ Tesco (2010), Tesco plc web-site retrieved on the 1 March 2010 from: http://www.tescoplc.com/plc/about_us/strategy/international/ The Financial Times (2008a), ‘Tesco in Korean expansion’ The Financial Times (2008b), ‘Tesco in new drive on China World Trade (2008), ‘Britains Largest Retailer to Open Shop in India’,Oct, Vol. 21 Issue 10, p14-14, (On-line). Retrieved on February 28 2010 from EBSCOhost database http://web.ebscohost.com Woodley, P.M. (2007), ‘CULTURE MANAGEMENT THROUGH THE BALANCED SCORECARD: A CASE STUDY Other Essays on Tesco Other essays available on the Tesco organisations are: Tesco Changing Business Environment Tesco is one of the leading supermarkets Tesco Strategy analysis Tesco SWOT analysis Tesco Fresh Veg Supply Chain Management

The Voice Of Generation X :: essays research papers

'We have been labeled apathetic, lazy, and selfish just to name a few,'; says Josie Mazzaferro in her essay entitled, 'Turned Off by Politics.'; We have been judged in every aspect of society, especially in the political arena. Is there any way for us to clear up these misconceptions given to us by other generations? It seems that the voice of Generation X is silent when it comes to political issues these days. When we talk about politics we often wonder what relevance it has on our lives. Many of us feel that politicians are no longer trustworthy. 'I am not saying that every politician is corrupt,'; states Mazzaferro, it's just hard to believe what he or she says is true when our generation has witnessed such harsh realities involving political figures. For example: the Monica Lewinsky ordeal that involved President Clinton. How are we supposed to trust a President who lies and commits forms of adultery to run our country effectively? Still many X'ers are too consumed in themselves to even worry about who is elected to our heads of state. They either think that their votes will not make a difference, or that the majority of people will vote for the same candidates that have been elected again and again by their name recognition alone. We as Generation X need to elect people that can associate themselves with the issues that affect the people today, and the new issues that will arise tomorrow in order to change the politics in this country. These types of situations make it hard for X'ers to take a stand and voice their opinions. What we need is a new political dialogue that will enable our generation to control more political power in this country. This new political dialogue can only begin if we start to become more interested in what goes on outside of our daily lifestyles, because it's not about us anymore, it's about them, the future generations to come. We as X'ers need to stop being so absorbed in ourselves and focus on issues that will change the future for the better. 'Instead of killing any chance for political debate by framing our values as mere matters of personal taste,'; states John Leo in his essay entitled 'The Unmaking of Civic Culture';. The only way that our generation is ever going to gain any political power in this

Mental Illness and POWs Essay -- Military

Any member of the Armed Forces who is held in captivity as a POW or as a hostage is more likely to be at a higher risk of mental illness like PTSD. This assumption goes against everything that was thought to be known during WWI, it was noted time and time again that both English and German POWs were somehow immune to war neuroses and only susceptible to the newly identified barbed wire disease which is the prisoner’s reaction to his environment during prison life. Interestingly though, up until this point in history no real data or studies had been complied on the post release effects after captivity. The repatriation of POWs and the new rehabilitation programs were designed to aid Armed Forces Service members to re-adapt back into to service life or if their enlisted was up to re-adapt back in to their former civilian lives. Disorders found in POWs were often explained in terms of a prewar predisposition to mental illness. Recent studies and those even conducted on the origin al WWI and later studies of POWs have discovered a higher rate of PTSD among veterans. The former POW who escaped or was released by their captors is also a veteran of war, but also a veteran of experiences totally different from their typical veteran counterparts. The POWs battle was not only one of daily survival, but also never ending battle against psychological intimidation, physical suffering, boredom, degradation, feelings of vulnerability, and sometimes depression. Also another noteworthy effect from being a POW was the â€Å"hero† recognition by the public and or Military community upon their honorable return from their capture followed by the attention they would received in the years following the return. The reintegration process back in to â€Å"normal... ...and their families, not all of the wounds are physical and they are not left behind in the cells upon return stateside. The Men who returned home from WWII were welcomed and more importantly celebrated by the entire nation as a whole, yet the efforts of those who returned home from Vietnam War did not reverberate as strongly within the country. The Vietnam POW was lightheartedly honored by our government, but the greater American populist struggled to separate their own personnel beliefs on their discontent with the war and unfairly placed the blame on those who had returned home after doing only what had been asked of them. The then President Nixon briefly spoke during his State of the Union speech saying along the lines that, they returned with honor and we can be proud of our courageous POWs for that they came home with their heads high, and not on their knees.

Measuring Sulphur Dioxide Levels Across London Environmental Sciences Essay

The issue of urban air quality has been a major concern all over the universe. This is because air quality and pollution have been recognised globally as pressing environmental issues ( Krivoruchko, 1999 ) . Since the London smog of 1952 that led to decease of more than 4000 people, the Governments of United Kingdom both at the national and local degrees have been doing conjunct attempts to better air quality by commanding emanations of pollutants into the ambiance through statute laws and other steps. This survey aims to measure the recent sulfur dioxide ( SO2 ) emanations from 38 monitoring sites across London. The appraisal will no doubt supply more penetrations that will policy shapers in inventing schemes that will assist in commanding the emanation of pollutants into the ambiance. 1. 1 Sulphur Dioxide ( SO2 ) Emissions in UK Sulphur dioxide is one of the eight chief air pollutants in the UK ‘s Air Quality Strategy. It is produced by firing coal and oil. â€Å" Sulphur dioxide ( SO2 ) is a colourless, non-flammable gas with a perforating odour that irritates the oculus. It reacts on the surface of a assortment of airborne solid atoms, is soluble in H2O and can be oxidised within airborne H2O droplets † ( Encyclopaedia of Atmospheric Environment, 2000 ) . SO2 emanations are chiefly from power Stationss, oil refineries and big industrial workss. The chart below shows 1998 SO2 emanation beginnings in UK. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eae/Figures/UK_SO2.jpg Adapted from ( Encyclopaedia of Atmospheric Environment, 2000 ) 2.0 Datas: The information for this analysis comprise of SO2 monitored degrees recorded in parts per billion ( ppb ) between January 2008 to September 2009 and their monitored sites across London. The informations were obtained from the London Air Quality Network ( LAQN ) . The datasets were examined in Excel Worksheet, look intoing the columns and rows by oculus. After careful scrutiny of the informations, the undermentioned issues were identified in the information. Some SO2 measurings were recorded with negative values. Basically, in a monitoring site there could be either a positive reading or no reading recorded at all. Therefore, all the negative values were assigned positive values Site TK3 was non shown as one of the SO2 monitored sites during the monitoring period under consideration but was populated with some readings in the value Fieldss. This could be a error during the procedure of recording of the data.To avoid any colored analysis, TK3 was removed in the value field. Brent 2 ( BT2 ) has merely reading on 31/8/2009 but no readings from 01/01/2008 – 30/8/2009. Croydon 4 ( CR4 ) merely has merely reading on 31/8/2009 but no SO2 readings from 01/01/2008 – 30/8/2009. Teddington ( TDO ) no SO2 readings from 01/01/2008 – 30/8/2009. Probe of the information reveals hapless informations recordings in LAQN database. It is good that to hold records of air pollutants emanations but much more has to be done on the issue of informations quality given to the populace. Recording of informations such as this should be automated. After scrutiny of the informations and necessary redacting done, a map demoing SO2 measured values for each monitoring site was created in the Arc Map utilizing London Wards as a background. so.jpg The map above shows the cumulative sulfur dioxide concentration degrees in assorted sites in London. There were high concentrations of SO2 in locations like Lambeth 1, Lambeth 3, Lambeth 4, Greenwich, Berkley, Newham 2, Thurrock 1, Crystal Palace, Lewisham 1 etc, while there somewhat low SO2 concentration in locations like Tower Hamlet 1 and Westminster. Castle Point, Thurrock 1, Sevenoaks background and Elmbridge are non within the London wards. The histogram chart of the concentration map is shown below. Histogram of relative symb.jpg Since some concentrations of SO2 are clustered, it is possible to find hot and cold pots in the information by looking for bunchs of sites with high values and bunchs of sites with low values. With the informations available, it is besides possible to make SO2 one-year norm maps ( for 2008 and 2009 ) . Monthly upper limit of SO2 values for each site can besides be mapped. 3.0 Modeling Approach: Laqn.dbf and Location.dbf informations provide merely information on SO2 emanation values at monitored locations across London. These informations entirely are unequal to foretell SO2 degrees across London. Dispersion Models can be used to see the spacial distribution of SO2 concentrations and so do estimations of SO2 degrees at unsampled sites. However, Dispersion theoretical account will necessitate informations like SO2 emanation beginnings and local meteoric information such as air current velocity, wind way etc. , which are non available. An option here is to utilize Interpolation methods which will utilize SO2 monitored informations, and effort to gauge concentrations at unsampled locations by suiting surfaces through the monitored information points ( APMoSPHERE Project, 1998 ) . â€Å" Interpolation is described as process of foretelling the value of property at unsampled site from measurings made at location within the same country or part. Interpolation is necessary when t he land truth informations do non cover the sphere of involvement wholly † ( Othman 2009 ) . There are two types of insertion ; Deterministic and Geostatistical insertions. 3.1 Methodology Simple Kriging – geostatistical insertion theoretical account was used here. â€Å" Kriging operates by gauging different constituents of fluctuation, and utilizing the ensuing theoretical accounts to gauge conditions at unsampled locations † ( APMoSPHERE Project ) . Three types of Kriging are widely used in geostatistical analysis are ; Ordinary and simple kriging which histories for merely local-scale fluctuation in the variable of involvement ; cosmopolitan kriging takes history of long-range fluctuation or impetus as instance may be and co-kriging employs extra information on exogenic variables, covariates to assist in foretelling local fluctuations. ( APMoSPHERE Project ) . Simple Kriging in Geostatistical Analyst of ArcGIS was explored here. The theoretical account is Gaussian based. SO2 degrees ( Value property ) Simple Kriging – Semivariogram Prediction Map – Gaussian Contour Surface Using ArcGIS, a semi-variogram theoretical account was foremost created to cognize how spacial dependant the information. Semi-variogram Graph – Simple Kriging The graph of semi-variogram below shows that the information has weak spacial dependance which means that it will be hard to do anticipations where SO2 emanations are non monitored. In cross proof nosologies graph, about all the points are spread along the horizontal line ( the measured or observed line ) which makes anticipations hard here. There are besides broad spread in the mean difference between the measured and predicted values. The sum-up of anticipation mistakes is presented in the tabular array below: Summary tabular array of Simple Kriging – Prediction Mean 0.017 Root-Mean-Square 0.5337 Average Standard Mistake 0.5625 Mean Standardized 0.02743 Root-Mean-Square Standardized 0.9501 Arrested development map – 0.034*x + 1.263. The average tends towards normalcy and RMSE about approaches one. Finally, the anticipation end product map is produced. contour.jpg 3.2 Consequences and Discussion: Simple kriging geostatistical tool was merely explored here. No anticipations were made due to insufficiency of the information available. The information provide merely information on SO2 emanation values at monitored locations across London. It did non state the relationships between the SO2 emanations and other variables emanation beginnings etc. 4.0 Analysing Exposure and Health Impacts of SO2 and other Air Pollutants across London There has been a turning concern about the impact of SO2 and other air pollutants on person ‘s wellness. Many surveies have suggested that people enduring from asthma and other respiratory diseases may be peculiarly susceptible to the inauspicious effects of sulfur dioxide. SO2 pollution is considered more harmful when particulate and other pollution concentrations are high. In this appraisal, an effort was made to gauge the possible persons ‘ exposures to SO2 pollution utilizing the datasets available. Valuess from simple kriging predicted surface map were extracted utilizing Zonal Statisticss in Spatial Analyst tools of ArcGIS. Mean was used as chart statistics. The end product file was so joined with London Wards attribute information.The Sum_Bad Health field was normalised with Kriging Mean utilizing Symbology builder. krigig surf.jpg Heallth hazard map.jpg The map above shows the likely figure of people in the London Wards to be affected by the SO2 pollution. 4.1 Discussions: Ideally, informations demoing hospital admittances on respiratory and other health-related diseases would be required to gauge the likely figure of people to be affected. it with SO2 degrees informations and attribute information in the London Ward. 5.0 Restrictions Data Issues: To a big extent, truth of any geospatial analysis depends upon the quality of the informations being used. There were some many issues observed in the information for this appraisal. Examination of the information showed hapless recording of the informations in the LAQN database. The attribute information on the information was non plenty for any complete appraisal. Laqn. information contains merely SO2 values recorded in parts per billion. It did non state us the relationship between these values and other variable of involvements. London Air Quality Network may see it utile to automatize the whole procedure of their informations recording as this will to some extent guard against human mistakes. Issues on the adopted modeling attack As with every theoretical account there are many restrictions associated***** Kriging geostatistical tool was used for the insertion. It provides a good interpolator for thin informations like SO2 degrees. Simple Kriging uses a semivariogram, a step of spacial correlativity between two points, so the weights change harmonizing to the spacial agreement of the samples. â€Å" It provides a step of the mistake or uncertainness ( of the estimated surface † ( Othman 2009 ) . Kriging restrictions – Mistake appraisal depends on variograms and distribution of information points and size of interpolated blocks. Kriging requires attention when patterning spacial correlativity construction. It,